Here we go again. BoostAddict.com reports on tuners that scam people to warn potential victims. When playing with high end cars and doing high end builds a lot of money is involved. Unfortunately, this also means there are a lot of high end targets.

CFI Designs is hardly a big name tuner but their work caught our attention. On social media they have some beautiful work posted and that is the point of their social media account after all. It is designed to get attention and drum up business so only the best things will be posted.

Back in 2015 I wanted a Twin Turbo conversion for my 08 superleggera. After speaking to many vendors and being referred to Kyle at CFI Designs I decided to go ahead with him. Iím based in the Middle East to make matters more interesting. My build sheet came to $109k, I initially paid $20k as a deposit with the rest to follow as and when. I paid another $40k in 2016. At this point itís worth noting that no work had Been carried out.

Late 2016 into mid 2017 I had issues with my own business which prevented me moving forward with the build.

I spoke to Kyle and explained this to him and he said he would try to find someone to take over my build, I said ok. At least that way I could recoup my initial payment or even the majority of it. Nothing happened.

I posted an ad in the parts section on here to see if anyone would take it over. Kyle requested that I take the ad down to which I did.

Now into 2018 things are looking slightly more positive or so I thought.

Iím $60k into the pocket of CFI//Kyle and no further forward. This is where it gets worse; financially for now I canít go any further forward with my project.

Also I have a friend who needs an engine for his TT gallardo after blowing his up. We contacted Kyle numerous times after he said it would be no problem to use part of the $60k Iíd already paid towards an engine for my friend.

At least then I can get some cash back and when I can, continue my project with the remainder balance.

This was the idea.

Now Kyle doesnít communicate or reply to any calls, messages or emails. Both myself and my friend have called and messaged him many times. If we are lucky enough to reach him he says that he will email us and nothing ever comes.

Iím still hopeful that something can be worked out.

On a side note I think the work he actually does is great and I canít fault what Iíve seen....at least from photos.

Now would you just write off $60k?

Guy in Dubai, wires $60k total, never sees that money or his car again. He might as well kiss it goodbye. This is why the big name tuners charge what they do because they can. Do not try to get a bargain tuner when building a twin turbo Lamborghini as you might end up with more than you bargained for.

R8 build suffered a setback from a criminal/fraudulent and unlicensed shop. Attempts to sell my motor, pretty much 0 work done, parts I bought and paid for given to other ďcustomersĒ, 20k stolen and more.

We successfully recovered the R8, motor, and parts on Thursday & Friday and they are safe while we plan for the next steps of the build. Lawsuits are being filed and we are working with both local and federal law enforcement to ensure that this piece of shit sees more jail time and can never do this to another person period.

If you know of anyone whoís had issues with CFi Designs, please tell them to get in touch if theyíd like to join in this effort.

Thanks to everyone who has helped over the last few days and offered support, really appreciate it!

Please share this post to get the word out!!!

A similar story of taking money and not doing anything. Fortunately, at least this guy got his car back.

Isolated incidents you say? What about this?

Originally Posted by r8.lms

My car being spotted back in December, when it was supposed to be in a shop getting work done, but actually being driven without authorization for a few thousand miles, shootin flames and killing it!

Here is one of our forum members @flsupraguy saying he had a great experience with CFI only for someone to say his car was driven around as well without permission:

Originally Posted by HustlerX5

Just so you know, he drove the sh!t out of your car too and almost crashed it when you had that first set of tires and your car was at his shop which was an airport hanger. That was when I first bought your exhaust. CFI also kept my car for 9 months, I found out through social media he was driving my car around everywhere when he had told me I shouldnít drive it and to store it at his place for broken motor mounts. Stole my parts and sold some on here in the classifieds, magically disappeared all of the undershields to my car, cracked my windshield, had to modify the car with a crank case ventilation system which he said was a design flaw and then tried to charge me for it, charged me for a electronic boost controller with install which never worked and never has, broke my led for the rear license plate, left my axles loose TWICE without tightening causing the axle to come loose at a high speed and cause SIGNIFICANT Damage to my oil on and fuel lines. Proceeded to tell me it was my transmission which was no good so I bought one off of him and the axles STILL came loose until I took it to Audi themselves and they said the axles had not been torqued down as they should.

In short, stay away from this piece of sh!t. This isnít a dispute as to whether the guy is an honest business man or not, heís a complete failure and conman. I filed a complaint with the California Bureau of Automotive Repair only to find he was NEVER licensed to work or repair automobiles period in the state of California. They recommended he give me a full $50,000 refund which he of rouse refused.

Now that is even worse than just driving the car around as he took parts off the car and sold them. That is Hennessey style scamming right there. It's an absolute horror story.

To make things worse CFI Designs is not even licensed for automobile work or repairs in California and BoostAddict can not find any license at all for CFI Designs. The BBB lists their business as 'Auto Boosting Service' which is not an official business type.

To be fair, there are zero BBB complaints but expect that to change:

Is that it? Nope, how about random people driving YOUR CAR and recording themselves damaging it?

Word is even spreading to Yelp:

Plus Google reviews:

Now, it is obvious why this is being brought to your attention. Does CFI Designs show off some cool looking work? Sure. Should you trust them with your car? Absolutely not.

People like this just keep on going without even any consideration for those they have wronged. We see all too often in this industry.

There are too many reputable tuners out there to even bother with CFI Designs after this small sample of what is publicly posted.

Great chance to clear the air with this and i will take this one at a time:

For James in DUBAI
- We started a project for James to build a Twin Turbo SL. The logistics with him being in Dubai(british citizen) and us being in US we had to fabricate and ship a kit. It was intended to be a full 100k dollar build. We purchased with clients money a lamborghini gallardo to build an engine, trans etc and then send to him with us receiving his as a core with the gallardo then being assembled and resold with a minimal loss. At this time James went missing, he ended up frauding real estate investors in Dubai and had to stop the project, but we didn't hear this till almost a year later. So here we are out 20k down payment on a car and monthly payments to build that didn't happen. We developed and built a good amount of parts for him. These are the details that are not told. James needed money to pay debts to get his passport back to leave the country and go back to his homeland. So he was desperate, we offered a small fraction since we were already out a great sum of money on an incompleted project but he refused. This led to no resolution we ended up selling this vehicle for just over 50k dollars as an incomplete project we took a near 40k dollar hit on sell of vehicle and the cost of parts and material we were out on James build so it was a great loss for everyone.

regarding HustlerX5

It must be made clear our first interaction with this customer was installing an exhaust he purchased from our customer. Yes we did take him on a test drive in a TT R8, no we never came close to an accident this guy lies beyond belief. He then contacted us 3 months later when one of his axles came loose(we had never done anything other than install an exhaust on the vehicle which he bought used). He asked us why we had no idea as this was something we hadnt seen before his bill came to around 1000 o to replace axle/hardware and repair the hole that axle put into his dry sump tank. Fast forward a few months and his axle comes loose again. At this point we start to think he has some underlying issue with the car., Not being the original owner neither he nor I could really know what this car has been through. We fix the issue and a few months later we come to find out his Differential inside the gearbox went bad. Is it possible that the diff could be the culprit, quite possible. Vehicle was brought to us un announced.I must add we are not a service shop just a twin turbo facility. The car sat for a few months before we could swap the gearbox with a built one and do a turbo system. I must mention this was not a planned and scheduled build hence the long build time. The car did quite well at 172 in the half mile and customer was quite pleased. But at this event the motor mounts went out likely during launching the car. The customer had issues with this as he had blown them at the drag strip as well multiple times. I recommended we then go to running solid GMG racing engine and trans mounts. It sounded like a great idea but they stopped selling and making those parts so we were stuck having to design and fabricate our own. Again this car was brought in unannounced we it was not able to be adressed right away. Yes we upgraded the customer to a catch can to vent the dry sump/pcv system. Anyone familiar with boost is aware of what added crankcase pressure does. So yes the factory NA motor pcv system is not up to par for this now boosted engine. So yes he was charged to upgrade it, no scam here just an uneducated customer that was not willing to listen. The damage done to his oil and fuel lines was from the blown motor mounts. Again if one mount goes bad the motor will lift up on one side and the drive shaft made contact with his fuel crossover line. In his day and age with social media its crucial people hear the truth and 2 sides to every story.